There is no question that the New York Yankees have had a glorious history winning 27 World Championships. The Yankees have many fantastic stats to celebrate in their 100 years or so, but none is as spectacular as when a pitcher wins his own game by hitting a walk-off homer. Although the feat has happened 23 times across all of baseball in the last hundred years, only one New York Yankee could celebrate that feat.
This morning while investigating the changes that will be in effect for the coronavirus shortened season, I was thinking about what changes might affect the game for years to come. Many protocols may have a long-lasting impact on the game. One change could change a stat forever. That is the universal DH. Although there has been no decision on whether it will become a permanent part of the game, if it doesn’t carry over to he 2021 season, it will ultimately become part of the game in the coming years.
Getting rid of the pitcher hitting in the National League will be a win-win. Players will get bigger salaries, and the owners will make more money with more dingers going over the outfield fence. It will also be a plus for American League pitchers who will no longer have to risk hitting and running the bases in National League parks and thus getting injuries unnecessarily.
There is a downside, and that is that Yankee pitchers will never have the chance again to assist their own games. The most significant and exciting way to do that is to hit a walk-off home run.
One of the most famous New York Yankee pitchers was Red Ruffing. Ruffing played ball in the sandlots of his Granville, Illinois home, but got his first taste of real baseball is when he joined his father’s coal mine team. Ruffing was good and quickly advanced to the major leagues. After a stint with the Red Sox Red, he became a New York Yankee in 1931. Ruffing had many 20 game winning seasons with the Yankees on his way to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Regardless of his success pitching for the New York Yankees, 1933 was not kind to him, he was just 9-14 with three saves. But in one of the highlights of his career happened in 1933. On April 14, 1933, Red Ruffing got the start for the New York Yankees against his old team, the Boston Red Sox. At the bottom of the ninth with the game tied, Boston’s starter Weiland faced Red Ruffing at the plate with the bases loaded. Weiland threw the ball, and Ruffing answered by hitting a walk-off grand slam, the last one to be hit by a pitcher in Yankee history.
With the changes this year, the universal DH will prevent that type of event. If it is eliminated altogether, the walk-off home for a pitcher will no longer enter the history books, it will just be a part of baseball lore.
EmpireSportsMedia.com’s Columnist William Parlee is a member of the Society for American Baseball Research. Follow me on Twitter @parleewilliam.